To choose love is to begin again.
Clearly, our human family is in distress. Yet because of this, it is also more open to change. Today I join with countless others in a renewed determination to be a better person—a truer parent to children, a more tolerant friend to others, a kinder coworker, a more committed partner.

For this to happen,
I must make up my mind, because behavior that flows from conflicted thoughts can’t be controlled. Engaging in trench warfare with my personality doesn’t work. Nor does making resolutions that last only days or weeks. To succeed I must unite my mind around a single purpose. And love is the only true purpose, and the only real unity.
I know what to do.
The only question is, will I do it.

I have never lived this day before. I am free to start fresh. My mistakes are in the past. They can be my shame or my treasure of useful indicators. I will use them to renew my faith and strengthen my resolve. Because of my mistakes, I know what to do. Today
I release the old ways that have split my mind and drained my power. I will fill my thoughts with the newness of love and the simplicity of peace.
Today
I open myself to others so that I may open my heart to God.

The answer is to let go of pressure, not add more.
My tendency is to make matters worse. Let me at least pause a moment and see what I want to do. When I set up a war within my mind, I put it between myself and God, because I make conflict more important than everything else. When I try to thwart other people, winning becomes more valuable to me than Love. And when I try to dictate the course of events, I am immediately at odds with the situation I’m already in. Yet when I relax into equality and trust in a greater Reality, life becomes simpler and my behavior modifies itself naturally.

To free myself from useless battles,
I put all things in God’s hands.
Sooner or later, I must take a leap of faith. The existence of a sustaining Love makes no rational sense. It can only be felt when I exercise trust.
As long as I wait for signs, miracles, fulfillment of dreams, or just a slight improvement in circumstances, I will never know Reality. The divine can only be seen through the eyes of faith. Today I will proceed as if I already believe.

Because the truth is true, letting go is all there is to do.
Everything I do today is like a little test. Do I want the question or the answer, mental conflict or peace, to be right or happy, to be a burden to others or a blessing, to awake or continue sleeping? Each decision I make moves me a step closer to Home or a step further away. Therefore, it’s clear that since the choice is between Truth and error, all I need do is to question—and thereby release—my desire to continue making the same mistakes.

Instead of trying to force the day
I want, let me embrace the day I am given.
Change begins with the willingness to make a modest effort each day. To at least try to let God be God, to let Truth be my truth. I betray what I believe when I push against events and other people. Naturally, if some change is helpful to me or another, I make it. But it’s simply a fact that life is happier when I listen to the music behind the scenery than when I nosily try to rearrange it.

To be in God is simply to be connected.
I need something more than free will, independence, or specialness. I need something more than private thoughts, a personal code, or a splendid point of view. I need people. Not in order to stay alive but in order to be fully alive, fully human, to be affectionate, funny, playful, generous, happy.
I can love a concept—I can study it, meditate on it, and repeat it to others—but I can’t throw my arms around it. And that’s what God is: arms
around us all.

Oneness is not cooperation.
It is experiencing the familiar in another.
No one owes me anything. No one is obliged to meet my needs. People are people. They are not sexual experiences or career support or a series of well-wishers on my daily rounds. They are not
enemies of my enemies or my personal support group or a way of killing time. People are not even a means for us to “get to the next level.” They don’t exist to give to us, or to withhold. They are us.

The only cost of forgiveness is to again be whole.
Isn’t it obvious that anyone who wants to forgive forgives easily? I must not underestimate my desire to continue judging. But the problem with grievances, grudges, bitterness, and hurt feelings is that I have to remain damaged. I have to remain living proof of the other person’s guilt.

When I see your heart, I want what you want.
“Love your neighbor as yourself” implies nothing more complicated than the fact that anything less than love is not love. The golden rule is not asking “What would I want?” The question is what does my child, my friend, my partner, my parent truly want? Love does not guess; it enfolds, embraces, and understands. If we do not love someone outside ourselves, then quite simply, we do not love ourselves. God is love, and within the love of God there is no discrimination.

Kindness is the touch of God.
If God is love, kindness is the key to happiness, freedom, and true success. And if God is one, it is impossible that the practice of love would mean choosing between myself and another. I am being dishonest when I say that I must put myself first.
I must put love first. Today I will use the most powerful and transformative of all spiritual practices: I will be kind. I will be kind to myself, to everyone I encounter, and to everyone who crosses my mind.

All around us is a welcoming Presence, but only by being kind can I feel it.
A gentle affect can disguise a malicious intent. Kindness is not smiling or agreeing or speaking softly. It must come from my heart and if expressed, always include a silent blessing. Letting people know that I hold them in my prayers sometimes engages my ego because of the acknowledgment I seek. At other times, telling them that I am praying for them can be a way of connecting and showing support. Kindness must dictate the form my efforts take. Every living thing is held in endless blessing by the divine. By being like God, we feel God.

When I submit to Truth, I submit to harmlessness.
Submitting is not saying yes to every ego request or condoning destructive behavior in myself or others. It has nothing to do with indecisive stands, shaky loyalties, or “seeing both sides” when a friend has been mistreated. Submitting is an impulse of sincerity, not an act of passivity or a show of impartiality. It is focusing sharply on my deeper self rather than on the superficial. My behavior is filled with God only when my heart is filled with God.

By letting go, I fall into God.
If I “let go and let God,” I allow Love to be within me. I quietly acknowledge and embrace my true nature. Letting Love is extending love, looking gently, being quick to understand and slow to judge. It is relaxing, being still, accepting, and above all, giving up the illusion of control.

The ego is always up to something. Unless I remain conscious, I will act it out in some way.
An action can’t exclude the mind of the one who acts. My behavior may seem appealing or unappealing, admirable or objectionable, depending on the reactions of those who view it. But another’s take on what I do doesn’t alter my intent, which is the true content of my behavior. Since all minds are connected, the deeper effect of my actions is in what I think. That is why there are no private thoughts or completely hidden motives. I can’t expect to be a person who consistently makes life easier on my loved ones if I don’t stay aware of my thoughts.